"creativity is messy" free printable...

It's been awhile since I've made any printables, so I thought I'd make a fun one featuring my personal mantra...

Perfect for an art studio or craft room don't you think?

(I consider myself a professional mess-maker.) 

I'm going to hang this little beauty in a white frame whenever I actually get around to painting/re-decorating my spare bedroom studio.  It will make me feel better about the chaos. Haha.

Grab the watermark-free 8 x 10 HERE.

{ Personal use only please. :) }

and the winner is...

h

Thanks to SewMamaSew! for hosting another great giveaway day and to all who took the time to enter.

And remember...coupon code "SEWMAMASEW" is still good in the shop through the end of May.

SewMamaSew giveaway day...(closed)

It's that time again...
SewMamaSew Giveaway Day!

Welcome to Stay-at-Home Artist if you are a first time visitor.  Here you'll find tutorials and posts about all kinds of creative projects--sewing, home decor, art, printables, recipes, etc.  I hope you'll take a look around!

Now on to the giveaway...
I will be giving one person an item of choice from my etsy shop.

To enter, leave a comment on this post with your email address and which specific item you would like to win.  That's it!

And this time around, my giveaway is open to ALL readers internationally.  Woohoo!  Just make sure your leave a comment by 11:00 pm (Mountain Time) on May 25th. 

**Also, enter coupon code SEWMAMASEW when making a kaceface purchase for 10% off your order! Code valid through the end of May.**

bountiful baskets...

I hauled myself out of bed bright and early this morning to pick up my very first order from Bountiful Baskets!

That is beauty my friends.

1 head of romaine lettuce

1 bunch of swiss chard

6 anaheim peppers

6 ears of corn

8 oz. package of mushrooms

1 lb. bag of carrots

6 tomatoes

7 apples

1 canteloupe

6 oz. carton of blackberries

6 bananas

3 mangoes

Now I just need to figure out how to prepare this pretty swiss chard...

Any suggestions?

perfect snickerdoodles...

Remember how I'm kind of picky about my sugar cookies?

Well, I'm a total snickerdoodle snob.

There.  I said it.

But these...

These are perfect.

Crisp, chewy, buttery, cinnamon-y, sweet perfection.

I have to be careful how often I make them.

Or I will eat every last one in a matter of minutes.

They are that good.

It's one of those family recipes that I'm not sure where it came from.  It's fairly simple, but trust me when I tell you it's the only snickerdoodle recipe you'll need from now on.

Snickerdoodles

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 - 3 cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons sugar + 2 teaspoons cinnamon for coating (I never measure this part, just eyeball it.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar, and eggs.  Add flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.  Mix until a cohesive dough is formed.

Portion into 1.5 inch balls (I use a scoop) then roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes.  Transfer to wire rack to cool.

concentric circles canvas art...

I made this colorful canvas art to add to my kitchen decor...

(Yes my kitchen is accented in crazy bright colors.  That's how I roll.)

The idea stems from an artwork by Russian abstract painter, Wassily Kandinsky - "Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles."

source

I like to use this painting to get my little art students to experiment with shape and color.  It's a fun project.  The results pack a great visual punch, but don't require a ton of skill.  If 3- to 8-year-old kids can do it, you can too!  Here's how...

Supplies:

Canvas - Mine's 8 x 10, but any size will do

Pencil

Ruler

Assorted acrylic paint - I just used 10 different colors of craft paint.  (I was too lazy/cheap to bust out the good stuff.)  It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive.

Mod Podge (or whatever clear coat you like).

Start by drawing a grid of squares right on your canvas.  You can make them as big or small as you like, with however many rows/columns as you want.

Next, just start painting circles within circles!

(They don't have to be perfect, anything circle-ish will do.)

Seriously, it's that easy.

Sometimes I started in the center and worked my way out.

Sometimes I started with an outside ring and worked my way in.

Whatever floats your boat.

And after I finished each set of circles, I filled in the background square.

If you make a circle you don't like, let it dry and come back to it later.

Acrylic paint can be painted over...it's pretty forgiving.

But - you may find that a circle you thought you hated ends up looking great once you see it with all the rest.  So don't stress.  The "imperfections" are what make it interesting, I think.

Once your paint is dry, paint the sides of your canvas. (I went with black, but you can't really tell in the photos.)  Then give it a clear top coat, and you're done.

It's a fairly quick project that can be customized with ANY color scheme.  And it's super kid-friendly.  (You could have each child do his/her own version and hang them all together in their bedroom or playroom.  That would be so cute.)

And you don't even have to use a canvas.  I normally use watercolors on watercolor paper with my art students.  Then you could just throw it in a frame.  So many possibilities!

lemon-berry bars...

So...I took a blogging break last week.  (You should see how clean my house is.)  And I happily missed out on the Blogger issues, so that was nice.

Along with getting my house spic and span, I also tried out a new recipe on my book club.  I know I have posted a lot of recipes lately, but these lemon-berry bars are honestly the best thing I have ever baked!  I had to share.

They have shortbread on the bottom, a layer of jam and berries, with lemon-cream cheese custard on top.  YES, PLEASE.

Lemon-Berry Bars

(adapted from Scott Peacock's Fresh Raspberry Bars, BHG magazine, May 2011)

foil

1 cup butter (2 sticks) cut into 1 inch chunks

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

softened butter (for brushing sides of foil)

3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam - You could easily sub another flavor.

2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries - I used frozen mixed berries that I thawed to room temp.  Worked great!  Use whatever berries you like or are on sale, etc.

8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1 Tablespoon all purpose flour

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

zest from 1 lemon

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

powdered sugar for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 13x9 baking pan with a long sheet of aluminum foil, leaving extra foil over the ends (you'll use the foil to lift the bars out of the pan later).  Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter with a mixer (I used my Kitchen Aid.) on medium-high speed until it begins to soften, about 30 seconds.  Add brown sugar, beat on low speed until incorporated, about 30 seconds to a minute.  Add 2 cups of flour.  Beat on low speed until incorporated.  Increase speed to medium, mix until ingredients form more of a cohesive dough.  It's hard to overmix because of the amount of butter, so don't be afraid to mix well.  (Mine seemed a bit crumbly until I squeezed it in my hand--it held together well.)

Press dough into even layer in the bottom of your pan.  Bake 20 minutes until dough has begun to puff and is just set.  Cool on wire rack 5 minutes.

Lightly brush exposed sides of foil with butter to keep filling from sticking.  Spread jam evenly over crust then sprinkle evenly with berries.

Zest and juice lemon.  In a large bowl, beat cream cheese on medium-high for 30 seconds.  Mix in sugar and flour until blended.  With mixer running, add egg, egg yolk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla.  Beat until smooth.

Pour custard batter evenly over berries.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until barely set.  Cool on wire rack for 1 hour.  Cover and transfer to refrigerator.  Chill 2 hours.  Top may crack slightly as it cools.

Use foil to lift bars from pan; place on cutting board.  Support the sides of bars as you carefully peel down the foil.  Cut into 24 bars.  (Cutting on the foil results in cleaner edges.)  Lift each bar from foil onto serving surface.  Lightly dust with powdered sugar.

a thought for today...

"At times it may seem that our trials are focused on areas of our lives and parts of our souls with which we seem least able to cope. Since personal growth is an intended outcome of these challenges, it should come as no surprise that the trials can be very personal—almost laser guided to our particular needs or weaknesses. And no one is exempt, especially not Saints striving to do what’s right. Some obedient Saints may ask, 'Why me? I’m trying to be good! Why is the Lord allowing this to happen?' The furnace of affliction helps purify even the very best of Saints by burning away the dross in their lives and leaving behind pure gold.  Even very rich ore needs refining to remove impurities. Being good is not enough. We want to become like the Savior, who learned as He suffered 'pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind...'

A pattern in the scriptures and in life shows that many times the darkest, most dangerous tests immediately precede remarkable events and tremendous growth. 'After much tribulation come the blessings.'"

--Paul V. Johnson

freezer smoothies...

We've been trying to eat more servings of fruit and vegetables at our house, so I took a cue from The Tidy Nest and put together some fruit/yogurt baggies that I can just grab out of the freezer to make a quick smoothie.

I found that one large tub of yogurt filled two ice cube trays.  Once they were frozen, I used a butter knife to pry the cubes out.

The Tidy Nest recommends 3-4 yogurt cubes and 1 1/2 cups of fruit.  But once I made one, I thought it could use a bit more fruit.  So I'd do 2 cups next time.

I did strawberry-mandarin and mixed berry using some frozen fruit I had on hand that needed to be eaten...but I can't wait for all the fresh fruit to be in season this summer so I can make a whole slew of these for cheap.  I can just throw these in the blender with some milk or juice (and a bit of spinach) and have a smoothie in a flash.

a highlight...

I don't want to post a travelogue of our whole trip (I'll do that on my family blog), but I did want to share one of my favorite parts of our Seattle vacation last week.

We flew in Saturday morning and the weather was PERFECT.  Barely a cloud in the sky.  In SEATTLE.  Amazing, huh?  We knew we had to take advantage of such rare occasion, so we headed straight to the waterfront and hopped on a boat for a harbor tour.

I took this from the dock as we stood in line waiting to board.

The boat ride was so pleasant and refreshing in the warm weather.  I was also able to snag some further evidence of just how nice the weather really was...

We could see Mt. Rainier!

And the whole city skyline.

We actually had really great weather the whole week.  It only really rained one day.  (And we were glad to have the rain rather than the SNOW they got in other parts of Washington and at home in Utah.)  We were able to do all the touristy stuff--Space Needle, Pike Place Market, museums, etc.--along with some plain ol' relaxing.  It was a much needed break!

here you go...

I'm back!

You didn't know I was gone, did ya? :)

Last week the hubs and I went on vacation, but I don't like to announce that I'm going to be out of town for all of the internet to see.  (Safety first!)  And I even planned some posts ahead of time so no one would know I was gone.  I'm pretty impressed with myself.  Planning ahead is not my forte.

One thing I didn't do was announce the winners of the necklace giveaway, so without further ado...

I've already sent you both an email, so check your inbox.

And thanks again to all of you who follow my little blog!